Decorated back panel for loose leaf books



v Aug. 25, 1936. it 3 SCHADE 2,051,907

DECORATED BAOK PANEL FOR LOOSE LEAF BOOKS Filed Dec 22, 1954 50. 1" n i /cf, I, or 5 a 232,)

INVEN'fOR fiM/V/f 6? 001/405 ATTORN EYS Patented Aug. 25, 1936 UNITED STATES- DECORATED BACK PANEL FOR. LOOSE LEAF BOOKS Frank Stanley Schade, Holyoke, Mass, assignor to National Blank Book Company, Holyoke, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application December 22, 1934, Serial No. 758,756

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of loose leaf books and the like, and more particularly to an improved back panel for such books.

The casings for loose leaf binders, for exam- 6 ple, commonly comprise a back member to which the front and rear side members are hinged by cloth strips, metal hinges, or in any other suitable manner. The loose leaf mechanism is riveted to the back member and in the cheaper grade of binders these rivets are left exposed on the outer face of the back of the finished book. In the higher grade of binders the unsightly appearance resulting fromthese exposed rivets is overcome by the addition of a back panel which extends over the back of the binder. Such a back panel is also sometimes employed where the back member of the casing is omitted as where the sides of the binder are connected by a flexible piece of fabric, leather, or the like, and the loose leaf 20 mechanism is riveted to the back panel through this flexible piece. These back panels are curved to give a finished and pleasing appearance to the binder 'and have in the past been molded from a suitable plastic material, the rivets for 25 holding the loose leaf mechanism being set into the inner surface of the panel. Panels so made are relatively costly and for that reason have been used only on the higher priced binders.

It is one object of my invention to provide a 30 decorative back panel for the purposes above indicated at a substantially less cost than has hitherto been practical, and further to give a novel and desirable appareance to such back panel. Other and further objects and advantages resid- 35 ing in the structure, combination of materials, and the method of manufacture will be apparent in the following specification and claims.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a back panel according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing one step in the assembly of the panel;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing an alternative arrangement; and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the manner of forming one of the members of the 50 panel.

Referring to the drawing, the completed panel i generally indicated by the reference character I. The panel comprises a center member 2, the specific construction of which will shortly be 55 described, and a metal member 3 which extends across the inner face of the member 2 and has its edges bent around the long edges of the member 2 and into overlapping relation with the edge portions of the outer or decorative face of the panel. As shown, the metal member pref- 5" erably does not extend quite to the ends of the member 2. The metal used is relatively thin and it will be understood that the thickness of the various parts has been exaggerated in the drawing for the sake of clearness.

pasted or otherwise cemented toone face of the filler piece, the ends of the strip being folded around the end of the filler as indicated at 1, giving a finished appearance to the face and ends of the filler piece. The member 2 is placed, with its decorative face upwardly, on the strip of metal 2i 3, as shown in Fig. 3, and the edges of the metal strip bent around thelong edges of the member 2, as shown at 8 in Fig. 1. At the same operation that bends the edges of themetal strip about the member 2, or by a separate operation, the panel assembly is pressed or bent to curved form, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

If desired, the end portion 1 of the decorative strip may be left in extended position beyond the end of the filler piece 5 until the center member has been assembled with the metal strip 3 and then folded over the end of both the filler piece and the metal strip and onto the back of the latter, as shown in Fig. 4. The folding of the end i may take place either before or after the edge portions 8 of the metal strip have been bent onto the decorated face of the panel.

When the end portions 1 are folded against the back of the filler piece prior tothe application of the metal strip it is not essential that the portions I be adhesively secured to the back of the filler piece, although I prefer to so secure it. When the end portions 1 are folded onto the back of the metal strip as shown in Fig. 4, the end portions 1 are adhesively or otherwise se- 4 cured to the metal.

Fig. 5 shows diagrammatically my preferred method of forming the member 2 and, as there shown, a web of cardboard I0 is superposed on a web of decorative material I I, a suitable adhesive being applied between the webs to secure all parts together. The web II is wider than the card board web and the extending edges are folded over on the web ID, as shown at [2, by any suitable folding device. Complete members 2 are provided by simply severing strips of desired width from the end of the composite web, as shown at the right in Fig. 5. In the complete members 2 the decorative strip 6 has been furnished by the web II of Fig. 5.

The metal strip or member 3 is provided in any suitable manner with rivets l5 which serve to secure a permanent or loose leaf mechanism, indicated in dotted lines at It, in the casing. As shown in Fig. 2, the rivets may be positioned in openings ll, formed in the metal strip 3, prior to the assembly of the metal member with the center member 2, but it will be understood that the rivets may be soldered or Welded to the metal strip, either before or after the assembly operation or may be secured in the manner described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 758,758, filed December 22, 1934.

As will be obvious from the drawing, the back panel provided by my invention presents a center area unmarreol by rivet heads, and a wide range of desired decorative effects may be obtained merely by the choice of an appropriate material for the strip 6, which material may be inexpensive. The bright metal bands at the edges of the panel, resulting from the overturned edges 8 of the metal strip 3, give a characteristic and artistic appearance to the panel, particularly efiective when the sides of the binder are hinged to the back by piano type hinges. It Will further be noted that the short end edges of the panel are given a finished appearance by the inturned ends of the strip 6 by the manner of forming the members 2, shown in Fig. 5, and that the long edges of the panel are finished. by the bent-over edges 8 of the metal strip 3, which strip also serves to hold the panel in desired form, gives desired rigidity to the panel as a whole, and serves as a support for the rivets l5. The metal portion 8 further acts to guard the hinges of the binder casing from undue abrasion and accidental damage when the binder is in use, thus extending the useful life of the binder and maintaining its neat appearance over a longer period.

Not only does my invention secure the advantages of prior types of panels, but it also secures the novel structural and functional advantages above pointed out, and all at a substantially reduced cost compared with that of back panel structures now in use.

What I claim is:

1. A decorative back panel, for loose leaf books and the like, which comprises a cardboard filler strip provided with a strip of decorative sheet material covering one face and extending around the ends of the strip to give a finished appearance to said ends, and a thin sheet of metal covering the undecorated face of the filler strip and having its longitudinal edges bent around the longitudinal edges of the filler strip and onto the decorated surface thereof to finish the longitudinal edges of the filler strip and provide metallic side margins for the decorated face of the panel.

2. A decorative back panel, for loose leaf 0-? t; and the like, which comprises a carboard fillerstrip, a strip of decorative material cemented thereto and covering one face thereof, the ends of the strip of decorative material extending around the ends of the filler strip to give a finished appearance to the ends of the filler, a thin sheet of metal covering the undecorated face of the filler strip and having its longitudinal edge portions bent around the longitudinal edges of the filler strip .and onto the decorative surface thereof to finish the longitudinal edges of the filler strip and provide metallic side margins for the decorated face of the panel, and fastening means carried by the metallic sheet and extending rearwardly from the panel for connection to the leaf retaining mechanism of the book, the panel as a whole being transversely curved and maintained in curved condition by the stiffness of the metal sheet.

FRANK STANLEY SCHADE. 

